Recording method

ABSTRACT

As a method of quickly displaying a thumbnail for navigation display of an AV stream, it is necessary to associate the AV stream with a thumbnail file when recording the thumbnail file separately from the AV stream file. The association, therefore, is performed by use of a serial number of the recorded AV stream file as a name of the related thumbnail file.

CLAIMS OF PRIORITY

The present application claims priority from Japanese application serialno. 2006-328940, filed on Dec. 6, 2006, the content of which is herebyincorporated by reference into this application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a recording and playback apparatuswhich writes and reads data to and from a recording medium.

JP-A-2000-152180 and JP-A-2001-101840 each disclose a technique relatedto this technical field.

JP-A-2000-152180 describes a subject “To realize video editing on asingle recording medium without overwriting existing video data recordedon a recording medium, and the use of solving means “An optical discincludes an AV file which records a plurality of pieces of AV data andan RTRW management file which records a plurality of pieces of PGCinformation specifying a plurality of partial zones within the AV data.There are two different types of PGC information: an original type and auser-defined type. With the PGC information of the user-defined type,each pieces of cell information specifies a partial zone in the AV dataselected as a material for editing. The order of arrangement denotes theplayback order temporality determined depending on video editingoperations.”

JP-A-2001-101840 describes a subject “Videos in a video cassette tapecan be watched after mounting it in a player and then playing it back.Since the same operation is necessary both when watching all Videos andwhen checking the contents, it takes considerable time to find a targetvideo from a number of video cassette tapes” and the use of solvingmeans “A representative still image is generated for each video unit.Only these still images are collectively recorded, as management datadifferent from a video stream, on a medium that records theabove-mentioned video stream or a high-speed accessible mediumone-to-one corresponding to the above-mentioned medium. Then, themanagement data is read at high speed and displayed to provide the userwith overview of the entire video stream.”

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

With the advancement of high-efficiency coding technologies, AV dataincluding video and audio data can be compressed and recorded in realtime as digital data on a hard disk, optical disc, and other recordablemass-storage media. Furthermore, a recording and playback apparatushaving any of these recording media makes it possible to record digitaldata compressed with a coding method, inputted from external throughbroadcasting and communication, on a recording medium as it is.

These recording and playback apparatuses generate management informationfor managing digital data to be recorded and record this information onthe same recording medium together with the digital data. When arewritable recording medium is used, the user can perform editingoperations on a recording and playback apparatus by generating andoperating a list (hereafter referred to as playlist) which indicates theplayback order by updating the above-mentioned management information.Specifically, a playlist indicates the playback order by combining AVdata portions. An example management condition of AV data on a recordingmedium according to the above-mentioned conventional technology is shownin FIG. 2.

Reference numeral 201 denotes AV data on the recording medium when thereexist programs #1 to #3 (corresponding to a single program, for example,when a recorder for recording broadcast programs has recorded oneprogram) as a recording unit. Reference numeral 202 denotes a secondmanagement layer (management level 2) in the management information, andoriginal cell information #1 to #3 respectively denote all playbackranges of program units, i.e., programs #1 to #3. Furthermore,user-defined cell information #1 and #2 denote whole or part (forexample, a user-specified portion of one program in the above-mentionedrecorder) of playback ranges of programs specified by the user. Thenumber of pieces of user-defined cell information depends on editingoperations by the user. Reference numeral 203 denotes a first managementlayer (management level 1) of the management information. Program setinformation includes the original cell information #1 to #3. The usercan play back whole AV data recorded on the recording medium by readingdata based on the program set information. Furthermore, playlistinformation #1 to #k denote the playback order of the above-mentioneduser-defined cell information specified by the user. There may be aplurality of pieces of playlist information. Information enclosed in aframe 204 is original information used to manage the entire AV data inthe management information, and information enclosed in a frame 205 isuser-defined information used to manage playlists through editingoperations by the user.

In FIG. 2, since the playlist information is managed as management level1 equivalently as the program set information, the order of a pluralityof pieces of playlist information is determined uniquely. This is areason why it has been impossible to change the display order of a listof playlists on the user interface. From the viewpoint of ease of use,it is desirable that a recording method and an apparatus allow the userto arbitrarily rearrange the display order of playlists on the userinterface.

Furthermore, the conventional case did not take into consideration apoint that a plurality of users generate and selectively manage desiredplaylist information.

Furthermore, in connection with Resume Playback for suspending playbackof a program and then restarting playback of the suspended program froma suspended portion (resume point), JP-A-2000-152180 described above didnot take into consideration a point that Resume Playback control can beperformed according to the playback condition at the stop time ofplayback, for example, when a playlist or program is played back.

Furthermore, since an optical disc is used as a recording medium,originally having low speed of switching between read and writeoperations, the optical disc was not taken into consideration as arecording format for a case when playback operation was performed whilewriting information.

Furthermore, in the case of Navigation Display for displaying programcontents in the recording medium as a list of reduced images (hereafterreferred to as thumbnail), it is necessary to extend a compressed imageof an actual program, reduce it to the size of thumbnail, arrange it onthe navigation screen, and repeat this processing to display athumbnail. Therefore, no consideration was made from the viewpoint ofNavigation Display at high speed.

Furthermore, in JP-A-2001-101840, even if a plurality of programcontents exists on a recording medium, a plurality of thumbnails foreach program content was recorded in one file. (Refer to FIG. 4, FIG. 7,etc. of JP-A-2001-101840.) Specifically, in FIG. 4 of JP-A-2001-101840,a plurality of thumbnails 1 to 3 are recorded as a single fileThumbNail.dat70040. In this case, in order to delete any of theplurality of thumbnails, for example, it is necessary to once openThumbNail.dat70040, delete unnecessary thumbnails, and then saveThumbNail.dat70040. Thus, if ThumbNail.dat70040 has been partiallydeleted as a result of editing, other thumbnails are rearranged so thatan empty area produced by the deleted thumbnails be filled, and theneach program content is also rearranged accordingly. Specifically, forthe capacity of deleted information, other thumbnails, program contents,and other information will be moved on the recording medium. Inrearrangement of information accompanying such deletion of thumbnails,processing time increases with increasing capacity of the recordingmedium. In particular, it is assumed that the processing time remarkablyincreases with iVDR (registered trademark, for example, 250 GB or more)having larger capacity than the present DVD (4.7 GB).

The present invention was embodied taking the above-mentioned viewpointsinto consideration, and an object thereof is to improve ease of use of arecording and playback apparatus.

An overview of a certain aspect of the present invention will bedescribed below.

In order to accomplish the above-mentioned object, a management unit andan upper management layer for managing all pieces of playlistinformation registered is added, and the management unit is configuredso as to be handled equivalently as the integrated information thatindicates all playback ranges of AV data. Furthermore, the addedmanagement layer is configured so as to handle user-defined integratedinformation in which any desired playback range included in a lowerlayer can be registered.

Furthermore, in order to suspend playback of a program and then restartplayback thereof from a suspended portion, Resume Playback control isenabled according to the playback condition at the stop time ofplayback, by independently retaining positions at which playback wasstopped, such as a resume point for playing back a playlist, a resumepoint for playing back a program, a resume point according to theoperating condition of the playback apparatus, etc., on a medium asmanagement information.

Furthermore, in order to enable playback and other operations whilerecording using a high-speed hard disk drive as a recording medium, aread/write unit is configured so as to allocate a predetermined quantityof units for recording or playing back a program stream.

Furthermore, in order to improve the speed of Navigation Display, athumbnail for Navigation Display is generated in advance and thenrecorded on the recording medium in relationship to a program.

Details on claimed pieces of invention of the present invention are asdescribed by the claims appended herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a management condition of AV data in arecording and playback apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a management condition of AV data accordingto a conventional case.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a recording and playback apparatusaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an example display output of original integrated information.

FIG. 5 is an example display output of user-defined integratedinformation as a list of playlists.

FIG. 6 is a first example display output of user-defined integratedinformation.

FIG. 7 is a second example display output of user-defined integratedinformation.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example file structure including eachpiece of original integrated information, playlist integratedinformation, user-defined integrated information, playlist information,program information, AV data (programs), etc.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example structure of a management tableof each piece of original integrated information.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a configuration of playlist managementinformation and an example management table.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a configuration of original programmanagement information and an example management table.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a configuration of user-defined programinformation and an example management table.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a configuration of user-defined integratedmanagement information and an example management table.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a packet configuration of an AV streamfile.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing processing at the time of splitting an AVstream file.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing thumbnail management information.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a configuration of management informationintegrating thumbnails and a management table.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Embodiments of the present invention will be explained below withreference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a management condition of AV data on arecording medium in a recording and playback apparatus according to thepresent embodiment. Like reference numeral 201 of FIG. 2, referencenumeral 101 denotes AV data on the recording medium when there existprograms #1 to #3 as recording units.

Reference numeral 102, equivalent to 202 of FIG. 2, denotes a thirdmanagement layer (management level 3) in management information. Programinformation #1 to program information #3 respectively denote allplayback ranges of program units, i.e., program #1 to program #3(Hereafter program information forming a pair with these programentities is referred to as “original program information” which isdenoted as “OPGR #1” in FIG. 1). Furthermore, program information #2 ato #3 a denote whole or part of a playback range of a program specifiedby the user (Hereafter these pieces of information are referred to as“user-defined program information” which is denoted as “UPGR #2 a” inFIG. 1). Here, a part of program #2 and a part of program #3 are shown.At portions corresponding to program information #1 to #3, the number ofpieces of information changes with addition or deletion of AV data,i.e., an increase or decrease in the number of programs. Furthermore, atportions corresponding to program information #2 a and #3 a, the numberof pieces of information changes with editing operations by the user.

Reference numeral 103, corresponding to management level 1 of FIG. 2,denotes the second management layer (management level 2) of themanagement information and includes only playlist information #1 to #n.Each piece of playlist information indicates the playback order of anydesired program information in the management level 3. There may be aplurality of pieces of playlist information.

The present embodiment is characterized by reference numeral 104, afirst management layer (management level 1) of management information,which has been added as a new level including a plurality of pieces ofintegrated information. The original integrated information isintegrated information that includes system resume information, etc.,which will be mentioned in detail later. User-defined integratedinformation #1 to #m include one or a plurality of any desired pieces ofplaylist information in the management level 2 and program informationin the management level 3. For example, when a single recording mediumis shared by a plurality of users, it is possible to manage the contentsto be played back that suit the preference of each user by use of onepiece of user-defined integrated information for each user.

The embodiment of the recording and playback apparatus according to thepresent invention will be explained more specifically with reference toanother drawing.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing an example recording and playbackapparatus according to the present embodiment, which makes it possibleto receive digital broadcasting, record data on a recording medium, playback recorded data, and obtain playback output. The recording andplayback apparatus 300 includes the input terminal 301, an inputterminal 3011, an analog video input terminal 3012, and an analog audioinput terminal 3013. The input terminal 301 inputs a waveform receivedfrom an antenna. The input terminal 3011 inputs compressed video/audiodata from other apparatus. The analog video input terminal 3012 inputsan analog video signal. The analog audio input terminal 3013 inputs ananalog audio signal. Further, the recording and playback apparatus 300includes an analog-to-digital (A/D) converters 333 and 334, ademodulator 302, a demultiplexer 330, a compressor 335, a write systemsignal processor 303, an encryptor 331, a read and write system 304, arecording medium 305, and a decryptor 332. The analog-to-digital (A/D)converters 333 and 334 convert an analog signal into a digital signal.The demultiplexer 330 demultiplexes a demodulated digital signal intoaudio, video, and other data. The compressor 335 compresses thedigitized video and audio signals. The encryptor 331 encrypts data to berecorded. The read and write system 304 includes a function to drive therecording medium. The decryptor 332 decrypts encrypted data recorded onthe recording medium. Further, the recording and playback apparatus 300includes a read system signal processor 306, a selector 307, ademultiplexer 308, a video decoder 309, a digital-to-analog (D/A)converter 310, a video output terminal 311, an audio decoder 312, a D/Aconverter 313, an audio output terminal 314, a TV set 315, a user I/F316, a controller 317, a system bus 318, an OSD generator 319, and anadder 320.

At the time of recording, a signal transmitted by a broadcasting stationthrough digital broadcasting and then received by the present recordingand playback apparatus is demodulated based on a predetermineddemodulation mode by the demodulator 302, undergone necessary signalprocessing such as addition of data for timing adjustment and modulationby the write system signal processor 303, encrypted by the encryptor331, and recorded on the recording medium 305 by the read and writesystem 304. Furthermore, a digital signal inputted from the digitalinput terminal 3011 is undergone necessary signal processing such asaddition of data for timing adjustment and modulation by the writesystem signal processor 303, encrypted by the encryptor 331, andrecorded on the recording medium 305 by the read and write system 304.Furthermore, an analog video signal inputted from the analog video inputterminal 3012 and an analog audio signal inputted from the analog audioinput terminal 3013 are undergone compression processing by thecompressor 335, encrypted by the encryptor 331 through the write systemsignal processor 303, and recorded on the recording medium 305 by theread and write system 304.

At the time of playback, an encrypted digital data read from therecording medium 305 through the read and write system 304 according touser's direction is decrypted by the decryptor 332, undergonedemodulation based on a predetermined demodulation mode and other signalprocessing necessary for playback by the read system signal processor103, and sent to the demultiplexer 308 through the selector 307. Thedigital data is undergone predetermined video decoding processing by thevideo decoder 309, converted into an analog signal by the D/A converter310, and sent to the monitor output of the TV set 315 for displaythrough the video output terminal 311. Furthermore, the digital data isundergone predetermined audio decoding processing by the audio decoder312, converted into an analog signal by the D/A converter 313, andoutputted by an audio output mechanism of the TV set 315 through theaudio output terminal 314.

The controller 317 controls each section of the recording and playbackapparatus 300 through the system bus 318, and controls the entireapparatus so that the apparatus performs operations based on user'sdirections inputted through the user I/F 316. A request for a directioninput by the user or a necessary OSD display to the user are prepared bythe OSD generator 319, added to the output of the video decoder 309 at asuitable level by the adder 320, and finally outputted to the monitorscreen of the TV set 315.

As a specific example of the use of the management informationconfiguration of FIG. 1, the following describes a case when each pieceof integrated information at management level 1 is used for a menudisplay of record data.

FIG. 4 is an example of the menu display using the original integratedinformation of FIG. 1. Reference numeral 315 denotes the TV set of FIG.3; 401, a tag for displaying all programs; 402, a thumbnail indicatingprogram information #1; 403, a thumbnail indicating program information#2; and 404, a thumbnail indicating program information #3. By movingthe cursor position on the screen to any desired thumbnail and thenselecting it through a remote control, etc., the user can play back anydesired program or all programs.

FIG. 5 is an example of the menu display using one of some pieces ofuser-defined integrated information of FIG. 1 as a playlist. Referencenumeral 501 denotes a tag for displaying all playlists; 502, a thumbnailindicating playlist information #1; 503, a thumbnail indicating playlistinformation #2. Like the above-mentioned case, by moving the cursorposition on the screen to any desired thumbnail and then selecting itthrough a remote control etc., the user can play back any desiredplaylist or all playlists. Display switching from the above-mentionedtag for displaying all programs 401 to the above-mentioned tag fordisplaying all playlists 501 can be realized, for example, when the usermoves the cursor at the tag character position.

FIG. 6 is an example of the menu display using user-defined integratedinformation #1 of FIG. 1. Reference numeral 601 denotes a tag for themenu display for user #1 (here, “Mom”); and 402 and 502, thumbnailsrespectively indicating program information #1 and playlist information#1, as shown in FIG. 1. “Mom” can freely register and delete data to beplayed back using the tag for the menu display for Mom 601 as a folderdedicated for herself.

Likewise, FIG. 7 is an example of the menu display using user-definedintegrated information #2 of FIG. 1. Reference numeral 701 denotes a tagfor the menu display for user #2 (here, “Dad”); and 503 and 502,thumbnails respectively indicating playlist information #2 and #1, asshown in FIG. 1. In this case, “Dad” selects two playlists and canchange the playback order thereof. Furthermore, like the above-mentionedcase of “Mom”, “Dad” can freely register and delete data to be playedback using the tag for menu display for Dad 701 as a folder dedicatedfor himself.

As mentioned above, in accordance with the embodiment of the presentinvention, a management unit and an upper management layer for managingall pieces of playlist information registered have been added, and themanagement unit is configured so as to be handled equivalently as theintegrated information that indicates all playback ranges of AV data.Furthermore, the added management layer is configured so as to handleuser-defined integrated information in which any desired playback rangeincluded in a lower layer can be registered, thereby allowing the userto selectively manage any desired playlists or playback ranges.

Thus, when a single recording medium is shared by a plurality of users,it is possible to manage favorite contents to be played back for eachuser, improving the ease of use.

The above embodiment has mentioned a case when digital broadcasting isreceived and digital data recorded as it is, but not limited thereto. Itmay be possible that a network I/F is provided to obtain AV data from anexternal network or that a coding element is provided to record data onthe recording medium while coding analog data. Specifically, the presentembodiment refers only data management on the recording medium, but theinput path is not limited thereto.

FIG. 8 shows an example file configuration with which theabove-mentioned programs, program information, playlist information,original integrated information, and user-defined integrated informationare actually recorded on the recording medium 305 (FIG. 3). The presentrecording medium is a medium for digital recording and playback. Eachfile on the medium is managed with the same file system as that used formanagement of recording media for personal computers. In FIG. 8, ROOT800 denotes the most significant layer of the file directory, andiVDR_TVR801 (iVDR is a registered trademark) a lower directory thereof.FIG. 8 shows each file structure that realizes the management structureshown in FIG. 1 concerning the present invention. Management files, suchas TVREC, MGR 802, PGRG.MGR 803, PGRG_INF.TBL 804, PGR.MGR 805,PGR_INF.TBL 806, UPGR.MGR 807, UPGR_INF.TBL808, UDFF.MGR 809,UDFF_INF.TBL810, etc., and video-audio multiplexed AV stream filesPROG0001.AVS820, . . . , PROGxxxx.AVS 821 (xxxx of the AV stream filename is assigned a number which is incremented, for example, each timean AV stream is recorded.) are recorded under iVDR_TVR801 (iVDR is aregistered trademark). Reference numeral 830 denotes a directory namedTND under iVDR_TVR801 (iVDR is a registered trademark) which storesfiles related to thumbnails used for navigation list recorded on therecording medium. Reference numeral 831 denotes a thumbnail managementfile named TND.MGR which performs integrated management of thumbnailentity files 832, 833, . . . , 834. File name of an thumbnail entityfile is TNxxxxyy.zzz, as shown in 834, where xxxx corresponds to xxxx ofa program file 821 related to a thumbnail, yy is assigned a serialnumber registered as a thumbnail, and zzz denotes the data type, forexample, bmp for non-compressed bit map or jpg for compressed JPEG(Joint Photographic Experts Group). In accordance with the presentembodiment, thumbnail files corresponding to each program file arerecorded as separate files like reference numerals 832 to 834. Recordinga plurality of thumbnail files as separate files 832 to 834 in thismanner, instead of integrating them into one file, makes it easier toadd and delete thumbnail files. Particularly in the case of amass-storage hard disk drive like iVDR™, this file configuration makesit possible to reduce processing time for deleting and adding thumbnailfiles.

AV stream files 820 (PROG0001.AVS) and 821 (PROGxxxx.AVS) of FIG. 8 arerecorded in accordance with a file configuration shown in FIG. 14. InFIG. 14, reference numeral 1401 denotes an AV stream file and a minimumunit for recording an AV stream received through broadcast is referredto as ALU. Furthermore, if the AV stream has been encrypted, the ALU isalso used as a minimum unit for encryption. An RP packet 1402, a unitfor record packet, is a 192-byte data packet composed of a 188-bytetransport packet of the MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) standard anda receive time stamp (4-byte count value upon reception, counted with 27MHz) as a header. In accordance with the present embodiment, a total of8192 192-byte RP packets 1402 constitute one ALU. An AV stream file 1401records AV streams and ALU information 1403; the AV streams includingALU#1 to ALU#v (each including 8192 RPs) and the ALU information 1403including the total number of ALUs in the recorded AV stream, the numberof RPs in the first ALU, and the number of RPs in the last ALU. Sincethe number of RPs in the first and last ALUs in the AV stream may not be8192 in some cases, the ALU information 1403 is used to record thenumber of RPs other than 8192 (mentioned in detail later).

FIG. 9 shows a configuration of a management table in TVREC.MGR 802(FIG. 8).

Original integrated information 901 records system resume information902 and program integrated information name 903.

Information recorded in the system resume information 902 includes:user-defined integrated information (UDFF) number when the user stopsplayback; playlist information (PGRG) number of the lower layer;original program information (OPGR) number of the lower layer oruser-defined program information (UPGR) number (PGR); ALU number that isa minimum unit for recording AV stream mentioned later; and RP number inthe record packet in the ALU in tabular form. The PGR number is used forjudgment of OPGR or UPGR, for example, OPGR is judged with the PGRnumber (hexadecimal) from 0000 to 7FFF or UPGR is judged with the PGRnumber (hexadecimal) from 8000 to FFFF. Reference numeral 903 denotes afield for recording a name (PGSET name) given to the program integratedinformation, for example, a character string of a name assigned by theuser to the contents group on the recording medium. The use of thisfield in this manner makes it possible to determine who is using therecording medium and record a name related to the contents group,providing an advantage that recorded contents become easier to grasp.FIG. 10 shows the contents of a playlist management information (PGRG)file 1001 and a playlist management table file 1010 which manageplaylists. The playlist management information (PGRG) file correspondsto PGRG.MGR 803 of FIG. 8, and the playlist management table file 1010corresponds to PGRG_INF.TBL 804 of FIG. 8. PGRG.MGR 1001 records thenumber of playlists registered through editing by the user (n playlistsare shown in FIG. 10); and positional information of the playlistmanagement table file PGRG_INF.TBL (for example, an offset in bytes fromthe top of the playlist management table file 1010 (PGRG_INF.TBL)) whichrecords the contents of playlist #1, playlist #2, . . . , playlist #n−1,and playlist #n.

The playlist management table file 1010 records information for managingeach of playlists #1, . . . , #n−1, and #n in tabular form. Theconfiguration of playlist #n−1 is shown as a detailed example of theplaylist management table 1010 of FIG. 10. Information recorded inplaylist #n−1 includes: a creation time 1011 (time when the usergenerated playlist #n−1 by operating the apparatus); a name 1012;thumbnail information 1013; resume information 1017; number of pieces ofprogram information 1018 indicating the original program information(OPGR) or user-defined program information (UPGR) registered in playlist#n−1; and a list of registered program numbers (PGR information ordetermination of OPGR or UPGR as previously mentioned, i.e., OPGR withthe PGR number (hexadecimal) of 7FFF or less or UPGR with the PGR numberof 8000 or more).

Since the creation time 1011 of playlists is recorded as managementinformation, it is possible to display a list of playlists in order ofcreation time at the time of playback.

The thumbnail information 1013 of FIG. 10 is composed of thumbnailformat information 1014 (whether contents protection is necessary ornot, whether it is necessary to generate a thumbnail to be displayedbased on reference positions of images of a recorded AV stream, whetherthumbnail data registered in an external file is to be referenced,etc.), thumbnail positional information 1015 for displaying as athumbnail in the AV stream, and positional information of externalthumbnail file 1016. The thumbnail positional information 1015 iscomposed of the program information (PGR) number to be displayed as athumbnail, the ALU number of AV stream corresponding to the PGR number,and the RP number in the ALU number.

Information recorded in the resume information 1017 includes: theprogram (PGR) number (OPGR with the PGR number of 7FFF or less or UPGRwith the PGR number of 8000 or more) at the stop time of playback ofplaylist #n−1; the ALU number at the stop time of playback for the PGRnumber; and the RP number at the stop time of playback for the ALUnumber. This makes it possible to record and manage individual originalprogram information or resume information for each user-definedplaylist, like resume information 1017, in addition to the system resumeinformation 902 shown in FIG. 9. Therefore, it is possible to performplayback control at a resume point for each original program, as aResume Playback function at the time of playback, and provide a ResumePlayback control function, for example, recognize the number ofuser-defined integrated information (UDFF) at which playback was stoppedaccording to the last playback stop condition.

FIG. 11 shows the contents of an original program management information(OPGR) file 1101 and an original program management table file 1110. Theuser can play back the entire AV data recorded on the recording mediumby performing playback based on the entire original program informationon the recording medium. The original program management information(OPGR) file 1101 corresponds to PGR.MGR 805 of FIG. 8, and the originalprogram management table file 1110 corresponds to PGR_INF.TBL 806 ofFIG. 8. Information recorded in the original program managementinformation file 1101 includes: the number of original programs recordedon the recording medium (p programs are shown in FIG. 11); andpositional information in the original program management table file1110 (for example, an offset in bytes from the top of the originalprogram information management table file 1110 (PGR_INF.TBL)) whichrecords the contents of original program information #1, originalprogram information #2, . . . , original program information #n−1, andoriginal program information #n.

A table portion of playlist #p−1 is shown as a detailed example of theoriginal program management table 1110 of FIG. 11. Information arrangedin playlist #p−1 includes: a program information flag 1111 includingwhether present original program information #p−1 is valid or not, copycontrol information (hereafter referred to as CCI), etc.; a creationtime 1112 (time when original program information #p−1 was generatedthrough recording operation of the apparatus by the user); a name 1113;a thumbnail file number 1114 (xxxx of PROGxxxx.AVS 821 shown in FIG. 8);thumbnail information 1115; resume information 1119; the number ofindexes 1120; and a format, the ALU number of AV stream corresponding toprogram information #p−1 indicating the location of index, and the RPnumber of a position with index specification in the ALU for each indexnumber. An index is positional information used when the user edits aprogram corresponding to original program information #p−1 to specify amarking point. Once an index is specified through editing, the user canperform various operations, for example, quickly skip the programcorresponding to original program information #p−1 to a positionspecified with the index during playback. Components of the thumbnailinformation 1115, i.e., a thumbnail format 1116, a thumbnail position1117, and a position of thumbnail external file 1118, are based on thesame data structure as that for components of the playlist managementtable 1010, i.e., the thumbnail format 1014, the thumbnail position1015, and the position of thumbnail external file 1016 of FIG. 10.Furthermore, components of the resume information 1119 are the same asthose of the resume information 1017 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 12 shows the contents of a user-defined program managementinformation (UPGR) file 1201 and a user-defined program management tablefile 1210. The user-defined program management information (UPGR) file1201 corresponds to UPGR.MGR 807 of FIG. 8, and the user-defined programmanagement table file 1210 corresponds to UPGR_INF.TBL808 of FIG. 8.Information recorded in the user-defined program management informationfile 1201 includes: the number of the user-defined programs registeredthrough editing by the user (r programs are shown in FIG. 12); andpositional information in the user-defined program management table file1210 (for example, an offset in bytes from the top of the user-definedprogram management table file 1210 (UPGR_INF.TBL)) which records thecontents of user-defined program information #1, user-defined programinformation #2, . . . , user-defined program information #r−1, anduser-defined program information #r.

A table portion of user-defined program #r−1 is shown as a detailedexample of the user-defined program management table 1210 of FIG. 12.Information arranged in user-defined program #r−1 includes: a filenumber 1211 (xxxx of PROGxxxx.AVS 821 shown in FIG. 8) of a programrelated to the present user-defined information; a read start position1212 (including the ALU number and RP number in AV stream) of AV streamof the above-mentioned file number, specified as user-defined programinformation; a read end position 1213; the number of indexes 1214; and aformat, the ALU number of AV stream corresponding to user-definedprogram information #r−1 indicating the location of index, and the RPnumber of a position with index specification in the ALU for each indexnumber. Like the original program information of FIG. 11, an index ispositional information used when the user edits a program correspondingto user-defined program information #r−1 to specify a marking point.Once an index is specified, the user can perform various operations, forexample, quickly skip the program corresponding to original programinformation #p−1 to a position specified with the index during playback.

FIG. 13 shows the contents of a user-defined integrated managementinformation (UDFF) file 1301 and a user-defined integrated managementtable file 1310. The user-defined integrated management information(UDFF) file 1301 corresponds to UDFF.MGR 809 of FIG. 8, and theuser-defined integrated management table file 1310 corresponds toUDFF_INF.TBL810 of FIG. 8. Information recorded in the user-definedintegrated management information file 1301 includes: the number ofpieces of user-defined integrated information registered through editingby the user (t pieces of information are shown in FIG. 13); andpositional information in the user-defined integrated information tablefile 1310 (for example, an offset in bytes from the top of theuser-defined integrated management table file 1310 (UDFFINF.TBL)) whichrecords the contents of user-defined integrated information #1,user-defined integrated information #2, . . . , user-defined integratedinformation #t−1, and user-defined integrated information #t.

A table portion of user-defined integrated information #t−1 is shown asa detailed example of the user-defined integrated management table 1310of FIG. 13. User-defined integrated information #t−1 is composed of acreation time 1311 at which the present user-defined integratedinformation was generated, a name 1312 of the present user-definedintegrated information, thumbnail information 1313 representing thepresent user-defined integrated information, an original program numberor number of play list numbers 1317 constituting the presentuser-defined integrated information, and subsequently an enumeration oforiginal program numbers or playlist numbers constituting the presentuser-defined integration.

Components of the thumbnail information 1313, i.e., a thumbnail format1314, a thumbnail position 1315, and a position of thumbnail externalfile 1316, are based on the same data structure as that for componentsof the playlist management table 1010, i.e., the thumbnail format 1014,the thumbnail position 1015, and the position of thumbnail external file1016 of FIG. 10.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a correlation between the structure ofthumbnail management data and an external thumbnail file. In FIG. 16,thumbnail managed data 1601 is composed of a thumbnail format, athumbnail position, and a position of thumbnail external file, like thethumbnail information 1013 of FIG. 10, the thumbnail information 1115 ofFIG. 11, and the thumbnail information 1313 of FIG. 13. The thumbnailposition is composed of the program information (PGR) number of aprogram file 1602, the ALU number corresponding to the position of AVstream to be displayed as a thumbnail, and the RP number in ALUcorresponding to the ALU number. The thumbnail external file informationis composed of a program file number xxxx and a thumbnail file numberyy.

FIG. 17 shows a structure of a total thumbnail management informationfile 1701 which corresponds to TND.MGR 831 of FIG. 8. Information forintegrating thumbnails is composed of the number of registeredthumbnails 1702 (i thumbnails are shown in FIG. 17), thumbnail pointers1703 to 1704 having pointer values of locations where information forregistered number of thumbnails is stored, and subsequently thumbnailinformation 1705 to 1706. Each piece of thumbnail information 1705 to1706 is composed of a program file number, a thumbnail file number,thumbnail-related information (vertical and horizontal pixel sizes ofthumbnail, compression method, etc.), and thumbnail protectioninformation (whether encryption of thumbnail is possible or not). Ifthumbnail information is collected in one location in this manner, totalthumbnail information can be grasped only by referencing the presenttotal thumbnail management information file 1701, providing high-speedoperation when obtaining thumbnail information list with a playbackapparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing how program files storing AVstream are managed when the user splits a program into two throughediting operations (for example, when splitting a recorded program intotwo). As shown in FIG. 15, AV streams of files PROGxxxx.AVS are arrangedin units of ALU. Therefore, although file splitting in units of ALU issimple, the ALU unit accounts for several ten seconds of playback timeof recorded AV streams, resulting in a very low splitting accuracy. Inorder to overcome this, splitting in units of RP will be enabled at asplitting point. In this case, splitting is made at ALU number #f, asshown in FIG. 15. An AV stream of ALU#1 to ALU#f of a split file will berecorded as PROGxxxx.AVS, and an AV stream of ALU#f to ALU#h asPROGxxxx+1.AVS (file number xxxx is incremented by one). In this case,the ALU value at the end of stream of PROGxxxx.AVS after splitting isnot predetermined 8192RP (shown in FIG. 14). Therefore, “Number ofprogram ALUs”, which is a parameter of the ALU management information1403 of FIG. 14, is changed and at the same time “Number of RPs in lastALU” is changed to the number of RPs after splitting, i.e., the numberof RPs before the splitting point at ALU#f to update file PROGxxxx.AVS.Furthermore, also with AV stream after splitting, PROGxxxx+1.AVS (FIG.15), “Number of program ALUs”, which is a parameter of the ALUmanagement information 1403 of FIG. 14, is changed and at the same time“Number of RPs in first ALU” is changed to the number of RPs aftersplitting, i.e., the number of RPs after the splitting point at ALU#f.This measure improves the accuracy of the splitting point. At least inthe case of AV stream with MPEG compression, a file can be split withaccuracy in unit of GOP (Group Of Picture).

With a recording and playback apparatus according to the presentinvention, ease of use will be improved. For example, effects ofimproved ease of use will be explained below.

Since the user can selectively manage any desired playlists or playbackranges, it is possible to manage favorite contents to be played back foreach user improving the ease of use, even in a case when a singlerecording medium is shared by a plurality of users. In addition,playlists are managed in integrated manner and therefore the user canarbitrarily change the display order of playlists.

Furthermore, the user can also play back from a resume point for playingback a program or playlist regardless of the playback condition, such asplaylist playback, program playback, etc.

Furthermore, when the user performs desired Navigation Display, theplayback apparatus can display a list of thumbnails at high speed.

1. A method for recording a video and audio stream, managementinformation for managing the video and audio stream, and a thumbnailrelated to the recorded video and audio stream, wherein the thumbnail isrecorded as a file; a thumbnail file name for identifying the thumbnailincludes a file name of the related video and audio stream; and themanagement information includes the thumbnail file name as thumbnailinformation of video and audio stream to be managed.
 2. A method forrecording a video and audio stream and management information formanaging the video and audio stream, wherein the management informationincludes at least original program information which forms a pair withthe video and audio stream.